Pedestrian Bridge Won't Be Open in Time for the Super Bowl as Promised

The pedestrian bridge connecting Mercedes Benz Stadium to the Vine City MARTA Station won't be open in time for the Super Bowl, reports Sean Keenan, despite extra expenses above its original $13 million price tag designed to deliver the project in time for the game.

"What was initially supposed to be a $13 million project resulting in a neon-lit bridge linking the western border of Northside Drive—namely the Vine City MARTA station—with Atlanta’s new sports arena had spiked in total costs, due in part to a sense of urgency to complete it for the biggest event in American football," according to Keenan.

Early last year, the Atlanta City Council elected to green light more than $12 million in additional funding for the pedestrian bridge—“because of next year’s Super Bowl,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in March—and urbanist blog ThreadATL clocks the current price tag at upwards of $27 million.

The the Atlanta Business Chronicle originally reported the news about the bridge's closure for the Super Bowl, in an article that could be behind a paywall for some readers.